The Colorado Symphony Weave Together Past & Present
The past and present collide in a stirring program of works by groundbreaking composer/DJ Mason Bates and Classical/Romantic era-straddling giant Beethoven. The world renowned Colorado Symphony and their fearless music director Brett Mitchell begin the evening with Bates' otherworldly 'Auditorium', a thrilling juxtaposition of the acoustic and the electronic that intertwines the ghostly recordings of a baroque ensemble, as played on period instruments, with an arrangement for a live chamber orchestra.
Visionary American violinist Joshua Roman will then take to the stage to perform Bate's Cello Concerto, a piece borne from a budding friendship between the celebrated soloist and composer. Bursting with lyricism and rhythmic energy, its fiendishly difficult solo proves no match for Roman's brilliant musicianship and technique. The evening comes to a close with Beethoven's Seventh, a work that may be sandwiched between his Fifth, Sixth and Ninth, but is by no means in their considerable shadows. A dynamic balance between orchestral grandeur and Beethoven's penchant for simple melody-driven arrangement, the masterful symphony gains momentum for a fiery finale in which its musicians play as if their very lives depend on it.